Something New
by yaaaaaay
Summary: As Jimmy's relationship with Cindy fails, he finds himself seeing her best friend in new ways. The two struggle to balance their relationships and responsibilities, but when an accident befalls the gang, they discover just where they belong. JimmyxLibby
1. Chapter 1

SOMETHING NEW

Chapter 1

"So what's actually up with you two, anyway?"

The sky was a pale shade of blue and a single star was pulsating quickly outside Libby's east-facing bedroom window as the sun set. Libby slid off her bed, still keeping a watchful eye over Cindy, and switched off the stereo that had been playing some old Graystar in the background as they had talked and painted their nails, their normal Friday evening activities.

"I don't know, Libs." Despite Cindy's hesitation, Libby could tell that she had been dying to bring up the Jimmy topic all afternoon. "I don't think it's going to work out. I think I'm - in - Libby, I think I love him."

"Okay," Libby said coolly.

Cindy looked at her friend for a second. "I thought this was an earth-shattering announcement," she said slowly as she flipped her loose hair back behind her shoulders. "I mean, it's kind of a... big thing here. It's getting serious."

"Yes, and Cind, you're only slightly more subtle than a bulldozer." Libby smiled.

"Oh, come on, even all those years when we were kids? And we fought? I prided myself on being pretty subtle back then." She managed a weak laugh.

"That wasn't an execution of subtlety - it was a neon sign. You know how it is at that age - 'he's only mean to you 'cause he likes you' - "

"Oh. Well, I always thought that was just a guy thing."

"Obviously not." Libby swung herself back up onto the bed to sit next to Cindy. "So you're in love with him. Which is... a great reason for you to break up. Right. I don't follow."

"I'm not breaking up with him, are you kidding?" Cindy said with a nervous titter. "So I'm scared that maybe it won't work out, okay, but I'm not saying anything to him about it. I want it to work out, you know? And I'm not telling him that I'm in - love with him. I mean, have you ever been in love with anyone?"

Libby rolled her eyes and ignored Cindy's query. "Honestly, girl, you haven't changed much in five years. You can barely say the damned word. What's so wrong, anyway, with the whole relationship? Come on, you're crazy about him."

Cindy sighed. "That's the problem, Libby. I love him " - she said this with marked certainty and speed - "but he won't even look at me anymore. It's like he sees me, and then he's always looking past me to find whatever he saw in me before. Just as I get really serious, he gets all... distant. Like he used to be when he had his eye on Betty. Like I was okay, but she had everything I didn't and I was the consolation prize because things between them didn't work out."

"Betty graduated last year, Cind," Libby said. "He doesn't see her every day like he used to. She's not a threat anymore, and their breakup was mutual - they're not getting back together. Sure, they write each other - "

"They write each other?" Cindy yelped. "Shit, he told you that they're writing each other? Why didn't he tell me? I bet they're big fat love letters filled with - "

"Relax, Cindy," came Libby's attempt at calming her friend down.

"Relax?" Cindy cried. "Relax when Betty Quinlan, Miss Popular and Pretty and Perfect, is writing Jimmy bigass love letters and trying to take him from me?"

"I doubt she's trying to take him from you," Libby sighed.

"Well then, he's trying to get her back, obviously. That's what's going on with him - because she's so beautiful and sweet and - "

"Oh, come on," Libby laughed. "It's not like she's Cinderella and you're the horrid step-sister, at least in the looks department." Cindy had always been the jealous type; Libby knew that, and she had always tried to stick by her friend. This, however, was taking things too far, and she couldn't let Cindy believe such things anymore. Cindy's relationship with Jimmy had to be in bad shape for her to be such a nervous wreck. "Honestly, though, if this is the way you get about him, then a little bit more sweetness wouldn't exactly hurt you - or him. And besides, you know Betty. She's friendly enough, probably just trying to keep in touch with what's going on with Jimmy without the romantic interest."

"Just because she's not interested doesn't mean that he's not," Cindy countered with a sigh. "I don't see what she sees in the damned dork anyway. I mean, he's obviously not her type. Why doesn't she just go and ride off into the sunset with Nick or some other jerk she deserves - "

"Geeks get the girls," Libby murmured with a smirk under her breath. Cindy didn't hear. Libby wanted to defend Betty and also remind Cindy that there was a time in her life when she wouldn't have been too unhappy to ride off with Nick herself, but she restrained herself.

"And I'm not exactly Cinderella material here - look " - Cindy slipped off the bed and paraded herself in front of Libby's mirror - "at this... I'm flat, see, I look like I'm still twelve - and I'm little and my face is too round and - look, I'm so short - even Jimmy's outgrown me now - "

"Chill out." Libby forced Cindy back onto her bed. "You're fine. You're gorgeous. And Jimmy and Betty have nothing. Some people don't just walk out on their exes. Some people learn to get along and be friends."

"Oh, yeah, Libs, which is exactly why you've been totally avoiding Sheen for the past two months." Cindy turned her head. "Besides, I'm not sure I believe that two people who were once in love could ever stay totally platonic friends."

"Really?"

"You know, I asked you a question earlier that you never answered."

"What question?"

"Have you been in love?"

"What, with Sheen?"

"I don't know, with anyone."

Libby smiled but quickly caught herself. Had she ever loved Sheen? There had never been anyone else for her; no one else had ever caught her attention. And he had hurt her rather badly, although she blamed herself for that; she had known about Sheen's womanizing tendencies since practically the fourth grade. The pain she had felt implied that she had loved him, or at least cared very much - enough to demand exclusivity. There had been potential. And if she ever had, then she didn't anymore, that was certain.

"Not a fair question," she said finally. "But my personal life isn't the one under scrutiny here - back to you. What are you going to do about this whole situation? You can't just remain silent. You'll die. You've got to talk to him."

"I don't really think I can do it," Cindy said, sighing again. "If you haven't been there, you can't possibly understand it."

"Come off it, Cindy, I'm a musician. I've heard and performed enough songs about tragic unrequited love to have a good sense of what it's like. And honestly, he probably suspects it already. Things can't get worse, can they? Just tell him what's going on, ask him what's going on with him, you know. He's not going to judge you or hate you - he's a nice guy and he definitely cares about you."

"Actually, I was hoping... you could talk to him for me. Ask him if he's in love with me, what he's thinking, what Betty's up to these days - " Cindy flipped her hair over her shoulder again and evaded Libby's reproachful gaze.

"Wait a minute, here. Cindy, we're sixteen and not in elementary school anymore - we're too old to have friends go snooping around boys for information. You're going to have to talk to him yourself or he's not going to take you seriously."

"Damn," Cindy whispered and fell back onto the bed. She heaved another sigh and appeared to blink back some tears.

Libby swallowed and thought for a second. She wasn't about to tell Cindy, but the part of her that she always compared to an over-protective bear was telling her that there was only one thing for her to do: exactly what Cindy had asked of her. Tomorrow morning, she thought. And if Jimmy wouldn't let her in, she was going to bust down the door to find out exactly what he thought he was doing to her friend.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Aren't we a little old to be hanging around the Candy Bar?" Jimmy asked as he slid into a booth. "I mean... I haven't been here for ages. We don't hang out her much anymore."

"Never too old for the Candy Bar," Sheen professed. He was balancing a tray piled high with milkshakes and sundaes as he waddled over to the booth. "I mean, look at all this..."

"You gonna share?" Carl asked hopefully as he took a seat beside Jimmy, but he quickly averted Sheen's outraged gaze.

"So... what are we doing here?" Jimmy said. "Sitting here watching Sheen eat?"

Sheen made a noncommital grunting noise from his throat as a banana split disappeared in one gulp.

"'Cause I have some stuff to do," Jimmy continued uneasily. "Moon stuff. You guys want to come?"

"I'm a little busy there, Jim," Carl sighed. "As much as I would love to go on another dangerous space adventure and everything, I have some letters to write, and stuff at home..."

"Oh, that's okay, Carl, although truth be told the trip should be pretty boring," Jimmy said with a shrug. "What about you, Sheen?"

"Sorry, Jimmy," Sheen said between giant spoonfuls. He didn't try to offer any explanation, which Jimmy found rather strange.

"Oh," Jimmy replied. "All right, then." He wasn't used to being turned down by his friends like that. He made very few trips into space by himself, and while he reminded himself that he could call Cindy and ask her to come with him, there was a part of him that felt like he just couldn't deal with her for a while. He needed some time away from her to figure out how he really felt.

"I have to go, guys," he said finally, and he wandered home.

-o--o--o-

"Jimmy! Jimmy, you in there?" Libby beat on the door heavily with her fist until it hurt. "Let me in!"

The door finally admitted her, and she walked in. She was greeted with a "Hey, Libby," and a wave, but Jimmy never actually turned around. She wasn't a completely unexpected visitor; over the years, they had developed a fairly strong friendship. It was not a friendship that really stood on its own very well, however, without the intermediate connection of either Sheen or Cindy. It was a little bit strange for her to show up to the lab by herself, but Libby was too focused on her cause to think that it was uncommon. Jimmy was bent over his rocket, and he was alone.

"What're you up to?" Libby asked, trying to peer around his shoulder.

"Aw, nothing, really," Jimmy replied. "Just tuning up the rocket. I'm planning on taking a routine trip up to the moon - get some rocks to analyze, you know, have some delightful fun running around trying to avoid Brobot."

"Where are the guys?" All of the times in Jimmy's lab with Sheen were flooding back to her, and she half-expected Sheen to burst into the lab at any minute. It was making her slightly nervous. _That's ridiculous_, she told herself. _Jimmy would have to let them in_. But then didn't Carl have a bag of Jimmy's hair?

"I left them at the Candy Bar."

"The Candy Bar? What were you doing there?"

Jimmy shrugged. "Sheen wanted to go." He stopped suddenly, looked at her briefly, and flushed. "Shoot, never mind, forget I mentioned it."

Libby smiled. Funny, wasn't it, how everyone seemed to think that the very mention of Sheen would send her heart into the throes of depression. She wasn't that type. "Don't worry about it," she said. "Have you seen Cindy recently?"

"No, I don't know where she is. I saw her yesterday, but she hasn't been around. Actually, I was going to call you to ask you where she was. Darn it!" He pulled his hand out of his rocket. It looked like his finger had gotten caught in some sort of gear or wiring; the finger was red and had already begun to swell. "Could you grab me some ice or something? There's a freezer over there, you know, so I can have some meals without interrupting my work so much. There should be something cold in there, unless the stupid thing has stopped working again - "

"Yeah, okay," Libby replied, and walked briskly over to the corner he had indicated. "You gonna live?" She pulled open the door and took out an ice tray.

"I'm fine. This kind of thing happens every day... it's to be expected, when you do my kind of work." There he went, with his slightly inflated ego. His chest automatically puffed out a little bit, and his voice subtly deepened, as if to give off some sort of comic manly aura. "I can bear it pretty well. I'd go on and invent some sort of healing invention, but it would be just my luck if that was the invention process that killed me."

Libby put slight pressure on his wound with the ice and laughed a little, slightly more at him than at his joke.

"There you are, that's about the extent of my first aid knowledge," she said. "So. Umm. Right. I need to talk to you."

"About what?" Jimmy swallowed and took the rest of the ice from Libby's hand, and he began to apply it himself. "I'm planning on leaving really soon."

"About Cindy."

Jimmy stared for a few silent seconds. Then: "Oh."

Libby felt a nervous smile playing upon her lips. "Yeah." She gave a small, automatic laugh.

"Uh... maybe you'd better come with, then. You know, I mean, if you don't mind, it's not going to be that long, but it might be better if..." He trailed off. "You up for it?"

Libby thought for a second. She couldn't help but think that Cindy would be better-suited to a trip to the moon with Jimmy, but she obviously didn't want to talk to him, and Libby really did want to set the record straight on some things regarding her friend, of course.

"Libby?"

She took a breath. "Uh - wouldn't you rather go have a chat over some... coffee or something? And not... piles of really, really old rocks? I mean, I'm not exactly dressed for the occasion here, either, and - "

Libby noticed with a bit of puzzlement Jimmy's face growing slightly red. "Oh, well, I understand, I mean - coffee is great. I like coffee, that could be - but - you know - I really have to go for some research. It's okay... I'll just go and get my samples. I just thought I'd like some company and if, well, you needed to talk to me about Cindy, you know, it's something important, and then no one else can go, they're all busy, and this would be - a wonderful opportunity to talk, no one else around, and I would rather go with someone, you know, so I just thought - "

"All right! All right, I'll go if you shut your face for a second."

"Oh - well - right, okay." His face brightened even more both in color and demeanor. Libby smiled slightly at him. "Hop in."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Hey, Carl, Sheen," Cindy said as she walked into the Candy Bar. "This brings back some memories... what are you guys doing here?"

"Aw, nothing," Carl said with a slight laugh. "Just chillin'."

"Have you guys seen Jimmy?" she asked as she leaned on the table.

"Yeah, he was here a while ago, but he had to leave. He went to the lab, I think," Carl answered with a sip from his soda. "Said something about going to the moon later today. Want some of his hair to get in?"

Cindy shrank back. "No, no, I won't need it. He'll let me in, won't he? Anyway - "

"Sure he will," Sheen assured sarcastically, acknowledging Cindy's presence for the first time. "I mean, he's totally sick of having you around all the time, why wouldn't he let you in?"

"Sheen," Carl said with a reproachful glance.

Cindy swallowed and realized afresh how close Jimmy was to his friends. She almost began to ask questions upon questions about the things he had said to them, what they had observed about his behavior regarding her, and whether or not what Sheen had just said was true, but she repressed the urge. Instead, she snapped, "Well, why don't you just shove your face into your fricking sundae, or let me do it for you," and did it quite matter-of-factedly.

She turned and left.

The sky was clear and bright as she walked outside - very good visibility for leaving the atmosphere. Her physical aggression against Sheen had briefly cleared her head of all the emotions in it, but it was rapidly becoming murky and difficult to think again. So Neutron was tired of having her around? Couldn't say that it surprised her. It would explain some things, although it still wouldn't explain the emotional distance and the feeling that she just wasn't enough for him. The thought swiftly took hold of her mind - the idea that he was everything and more to her, that he filled her to her core - challenged her in beautiful ways, took her places she'd never been both in the universe and in her heart, made her see everything differently - and she just couldn't return the favor for him, no matter how hard she tried.

She had begun the day with a firm resolve to go see Jimmy and talk to him with some semblance of honesty, but that determination was deteriorating quickly now. All around her were people walking, going about their daily summer lives. As she looked around her, barely nothing had changed since elementary school, since she first met Jimmy. The shops were the same - looked the same, smelled the same. Except for McSpanky's, of course.

The sun was exceptionally bright and lovely.

She turned her attention back on her fellow pedestrians. There was Nick, skateboarding along, with Brittany trotting along close behind, clearly enthralled with the moves with which Nick was attempting to impress her. And as she turned around, she saw Ms. Fowl slipping in secretly to the Candy Bar, hoping that no one was seeing her. Everyone else! Everyone else was capable of making a deep, fulfilling connection to someone else. What was wrong with her?

She came upon the door to Jimmy's lab, stopped for a minute, and, before she really knew what she was doing, knocked. She didn't dare say anything - she almost didn't want him to know it was her.

"Cindy, dear?" Cindy turned around with a start when she heard her name, but it was only Mrs. Neutron leaning out the front door, oven mitt and sheet of cookies on and in hand. "Jimmy's left. He should be back before dinner. Cookie?"

"Oh, thank you, Mrs. Neutron, but I guess if he's not around, I'll be going," Cindy replied with a sweet smile.

"All right, dear, it was good to see you." The door closed and the only sound was birdsong.

"I guess I'll just have to go find Libby," she muttered to herself. It was always good to talk through things to her friend.

The more she thought about it, the more she felt that it was a good thing he wasn't around. She didn't even know what to say to him when she did finally see him; she hadn't had a speech prepared. She didn't even know what her own feelings were anymore. Perhaps she should get him something - bring him something. Sweet. She needed to be sweet - that was what Libby said. She could be sweet and romantic - she knew she had it in her. And maybe then he would see that she could be something to him for real. Besides, maybe Sheen was right and all he needed was a break from her.

But what?

She should make him something - invent something. An invention! Something he wanted, needed, something he always talked about. Something that would show him that she listened, cared, knew him inside and out.

She couldn't think of anything.

-o--o--o-

"Oh, yes, this is really fascinating," Libby said with an exasperated sigh. "They're rocks. Wonderful."

"Oh, come on, Libby, this is incredible," Jimmy said. His eyes were shining too brightly for Libby to be fully comfortable. "Do you realize that - "

"Mm-hmm." She shifted her weight from one leg to the other. "Fascinating. Look, will you let me talk to you already? First you had to concentrate on driving the rocket, then the noise would attract Brobot, then you need silence to focus on some old clumps of dust. Next thing you'll be needing silence to, I don't know, clear your qi or something. Honestly, I thought you wanted me here to talk."

"And I do." Jimmy stood, balancing a group of rock samples in his arms. He looked at her and blinked for a second. "Yes. I want you here so you can talk."

Libby was relieved and wasted no time launching into talking. "So what is up between you and Cindy? She's really upset, and I know it's about you - what have you been doing to her?"

"... And so you can lecture me and tell me what a bad boyfriend I am." He looked away and dumped the samples he had gathered into a bag. "I'm not doing anything to her. She's great. I'm great. We're great."

"Not according to her," Libby said forcefully. "She was at my place last night practically crying - "

"What? What was she crying about?" Jimmy asked. Classic deer in the headlights. Something had obviously happened, and he was obviously pretending that nothing had. He needed to be called on it.

"Please, Jimmy, you tell me."

"I don't know. Really."

"You know, it's probably not at all my place to tell you this, but if I have to tell you to force you to see the big picture, then I have to. Cindy loves you. I mean, seriously. She loves you - is in love with you. And if you don't feel the same way about her, or even if you do, then I suggest that you two have a talk. I told her to talk to you, but if she doesn't instigate it, then you have to. And now that you know how serious this is getting, spill. What happened?"

Libby's stance, her eyes, everything about her forced Jimmy to tell the truth.

"Nothing has happened, exactly. I mean, no big earth-shattering event. It's just that - she's really been... _pushing_ lately in everything. She hasn't been considerate, she's acting weirder than normal. I mean, I can deal with normal Cindy weirdness, but this is different. She's being really distant while trying to be even closer at the same time." Jimmy sighed. "Look, Libby, it's hard to explain, and I have to - "

"Look out, I think Brobot's coming," said Libby quickly as she saw a flash of movement.

"Oh, dang," Jimmy said. "I think we've got to run for it."

He instinctively reached for her hand, all calloused and hard on her fingers from her hours of musical practice, and then smooth and light and feminine on the back. The feeling of it surprised him somehow. She took off and he followed behind; he wanted to look back to see how closely Brobot pursued them, but he found that he couldn't. She was laughing freely. It was amazing - two seconds ago she had been scolding him for playing fast and loose with Cindy's heart; she had been yelling at him, forcing him to be honest, telling him to go to Cindy, because she cared about her best friend. And now, two seconds later, here she was, running with him on the moon, letting him hold his hand, and laughing.

And here he was. He had never spent much time alone with Libby. He knew her very well - surprisingly well, he thought, for someone who had never taken any real effort to get to know her - and yet he felt perfectly natural, even as she made him feel uncomfortable about Cindy. But now here he was, thinking about her in a way he hadn't ever seriously thought to think about her ever before, enjoying the feel of her uniquely marked hand, and being completely out of his mind. She was so incredibly talented; she could play a piano that could move you to tears; and he couldn't appreciate her. He was a scientist, and frankly he was enjoying the sound of her free laughter a heck of a lot more than he could truly appreciate her rendition of a Chopin Nocturne, or an old pop song.

Perhaps that would change.

But then he also had a girlfriend whom he loved.

A shrill, familiar voice was calling out his name, and it snapped him back to reality for a moment.

"Hi, Brobot, I gotta go! Into the rocket!" he shouted. He was out of breath, and she was too. He just realized that he had been laughing as well.

Their hands parted as she jumped into the rocket and he ran around to get in the other side.

"Gotta blast," he murmured so that Brobot couldn't hear, and they took off.

Libby laughed.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"So do you love her?" Libby asked curiously as she shifted her position in the rocket.

"I don't know," Jimmy said with a shrug. His heart was pounding furiously, and he realized he was angry at himself. So he and Cindy were going through a rough patch. Still, they had a good thing going. Was he purposely trying to sabotage himself? "I guess I must."

"Oh, and what's that supposed to mean?" Libby asked with a smirk. "You guess so? Very confident. Very romantic."

"Well, I mean, I've liked her ever since I met her, I guess. Even when you guys were mean to me - you know, it's the whole little kid romance thing. The meaner they are, the more they like you." Shoot - that was really smooth. "I mean, the meaner she is, the more she... yeah. Plus, we've always had a bunch of stuff in common. These moon rocks I picked up that you thought were so boring? When I get them home, I'm sure she'll want to look at them with me. She's smarter than anyone else I know - well, 'cept me, I guess. Umm, so, I mean, something had to have shifted somewhere in there."

"But you should know if it happened. Plus, I mean, come on... you love her because she likes to analyze moon rocks? Very... just... no, that doesn't sit right. And what about Betty, or even April? You can't tell me you didn't love Betty, at least."

"Of course I di... I mean, look, Libby, I'm not a girl, okay?" said Jimmy, turning to look at her.

Libby smiled. "My goodness, what a brilliant observation, Jim! I never would have noticed. You know, I may not be as smart as you, but - "

"That's not what I meant and you know it," Jimmy said with a smirk.

Libby stared for a second in the pause that followed. For some reason, the look on his face seemed to imply something very strange and a little unsettling.

"I only meant that I'm not - I won't - I can't talk about all this stuff," Jimmy continued. "You know, feelings, love, girls, puppies and rainbows..."

"Oh. Right." Libby blinked.

"Although I'm having a really hard time talking about anything at all right now," he murmured under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, nothing, just the pheromone talking," Jimmy said with a wave of his hand. "So where are we off to?"

"Err - you are going to take me home, aren't you?" Libby asked.

Truth be told, part of her didn't want to go home in the least. She enjoyed space. She enjoyed being up there with no one else, this wonderful opportunity that no one else in the world but Jimmy could have brought her. It was all loveliness, from the stars to the planets to the ancient moon dust that she had professed so dreadfully boring. The whole universe seemed open to her, and by the look in Jimmy's eye, she suspected that if she were to ask to go into a black hole he would not deny her request.

"Oh, well, yes. I just wondered if there's anyplace else you'd... like to go," Jimmy stuttered. "There's a lot of nice places in the galaxy, you know."

"Oh, I'm sure there are," Libby said faintly. "Care to recommend any?"

Jimmy looked at her for a minute. She stared back scrutinizingly, trying to figure out what was going on in that giant head of his. Finally, he replied. "Nope. No recommendations. Can't think of anything."

"Oh, come on," Libby laughed. "I haven't been to nearly as many places as you have. I don't know where to go, and if you don't recommend any place I have no idea what my options are."

He grinned. "Don't worry. I have an idea."

His eyes were really, really blue.

-o--o--o-

"Hi, Mrs. Folfax," Cindy said brightly as she entered the house through the back door. "Libby around?"

"I'm sorry, Cindy, but she left this morning," Mrs. Folfax answered. "I don't know exactly where she went; I assumed she was going to find you. I guess you missed each other!"

"Oh," Cindy said with a toss of her blonde head. She smiled. "Thanks anyway."

"Do you want to come upstairs and wait for her? I'm sure she'll be home at some point, and if she's not with you, it'll probably be very soon."

"No, thanks. I have some... stuff to take care of."

"All right, then."

Cindy smiled at Libby's mother again and then made her exit. Where was Libby? She had looked around at every possible hang-out, including another stop at the Candy Bar. She seriously needed to talk. Thoughts were bursting from her heart to her mind at a rate she could not emotionally handle. Her best friend was missing and her boyfriend was probably on the moon, far away, thinking about how much he needed to get away from her.

Her mother had been right: she should never have gotten involved with Jimmy in the first place. Of course, the reasons were completely different. It wasn't that Jimmy had no social standing. It wasn't that he was a nerd, or that his hairstyle was too off-putting, or that his father had no sense of place in society. Those things weren't among his flaws. No, their relationship problems stemmed from her. She wasn't good enough for him.

_Which is why I have to come up with something to give him, or to do for him_, Cindy thought to herself as she walked. She had no real destination in mind; she just let the summer sun beat down on her and the birds mock her as she walked aimlessly. _Maybe I should have a look around his lab. He won't mind, will he?_

Of course, it was possible that he would be back at any minute. And she didn't know where Libby might be.

But he wouldn't mind. And his lab was sure to give her the idea for the perfect gesture.

And Carl still had that bag of Jimmy's hair.

-o--o--o-

"The theory behind our Western music is so fascinating," Jimmy said excitedly. "It all stems back to Pythagoras. Funny. He was a mathematician only because of his desire to be a better musician. You know," he sighed as he turned his head toward Libby, "I should work on more music-related research. So much of music and science is inter-connected - it could lead me to a breakthrough invention."

"You know, you're not the only one who's meshed the two," Libby said with a smirk.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Mm-hmm. I made an invention back in elementary school for the science fair - the year you won that prize, the Nobel or the Pulitzer or something."

"I remember it well."

_Cindy_, Jimmy had to keep telling himself. _You have a wonderful girl that you can't forget. You love her, right? Don't forget that._

"Do you remember my invention?"

His hand was trembling, he wanted to hold hers so badly.

"Well, given that you and Cindy had just ousted me from the fair and were trying to make my life a living hell, I tried to forget... and I succeeded." He rolled up his eyes. "Job well done, brain." He tried not to look back directly at Libby, but his will wasn't strong enough. "What was it?"

"I can't even remember what I called it, really," Libby said searchingly. "It was quite an amazing invention, however. Very brilliant, should have won first prize over everything else."

"What was it?"

"The very first, totally original, completely brand new, wonderful, divinely inspired - "

"Libby!"

"Mood CD player."

"And... what would that be?" Jimmy's eyes trailed around Libby's face.

"It had this... thing that acted as this... senser-whatsit attached to some... well, this... whatchamacallit,"

"Very scientific," Jimmy agreed gravely.

"Well, in any case," Libby continued, laughing, "it determined your mood based on your hand's temperature or something like that - I don't quite remember - anyway - and it picked the perfect CD album for your mood and played it."

"Brilliant, Libby. Absolutely brilliant. You have an outstanding mind." They laughed.

Libby knew that if she had had her invention with her it would be playing some rather dangerous music. Beautiful music, but as far as her social relationships were concerned, dangerous music. Very, very dangerous.

His head was also dangerously close to hers.

The location wasn't helping any. Jimmy had decided to go someplace without telling her. She had no idea where she was, but she had half a mind to take a sledgehammer to Jimmy's rocket and throw it out to space before she remembered Cindy.

The planet was a gorgeous one. It was very distinctly dead, but it was beautiful, which surprised her. For someone who valued vibrance and life and thick densities of color, she found the monotony, the emptiness, the very waste of it extremely appealing. There was soft, cool sand lit blue by the light of a rather distant star and nothing else in sight - nothing else at all but the cold. It was cold, yes, but she didn't mind that.

In fact, the sand and the closeness and the wasteland could only bring her back to that time years ago when the whole gang had cut class to go to Egypt. Here she was, lying on totally foreign sand millions of miles away in space and years away in time - but it felt so similar.

He shifted so that he was lying on his stomach, but his head was still turned toward her. His hand was gliding across the sand, then across her waist, and her back.

"This is a beautiful place," Libby murmured, trying to think of things to say to postpone the inevitable. He was drawing nearer and nearer, and she felt herself doing the same just as she was trying to stop, trying to ask him a question - but then his very scent was so captivating; he smelled like pears and bananas and old, burned candles. He shifted back to his side again, his other hand traveling lightly around her face, his eyes holding hers until they shut and his lips travelling closer and closer to hers.

The realization that her hands were sweeping down his chest met Libby with a thrilling mix of horror and delight. She was trembling as they met completely, as he rolled his chest onto her heaving one and floated his lips lightly on top of hers. She found that she responded instantly, instinctively, without stopping to consider what she was doing. She pulled up her head slightly and met his again, but this time they were more confident, deeper, longer; and then she relaxed her head on top of the sand and felt it cool her scalp as she tilted it back. The sand that had been so cold beneath her before was pulsing with heat.

She opened her eyes and found Jimmy peering down at her solemnly.

"I meant to ask you," she breathed, still trembling, "have you been here with Cindy or Betty?"

Jimmy was breathing rather heavily too, and Libby took one of her hands from his shirt and clasped his hand, the one that was resting on top of her. He swallowed and caught some of his breath back.

"No," he answered. "This isn't their kind of planet. I've been waiting for the right girl to take here."

He leaned in again, and Libby let him. Although every fiber of her body resisted, she then pulled away, letting his chest drop back to the ground. She sat on the ground, knees in the air and elbows supporting her back, and stared at him.

"Let's go home," she said in a small voice.

Jimmy looked back at her with kind, frightened eyes. "Okay," he whispered. As they flew through the air together, both kept silent.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"All these plans," Cindy breathed, "and not one of them stands out."

She found files and files of plans saved on Jimmy's computer, each file with some sort of idea or blueprint for a new invention. She had been there about an hour looking through them all; there were still about ten to go, but she had just about lost heart.

"How can I be so stupid?" she wailed to herself. "I'm sixteen. I'm in high school and I'll be a junior this fall. I should be worrying about my grades, thinking about colleges. Not some boy - "

She swiveled in the chair and walked over to the refrigerator, where she found a bottle of Purple Flurp that was just about empty - no more than two swallows left. She swallowed them.

"Not to mention," she continued as she tossed the bottle away, "that I couldn't build any of these things if I tried. Maybe I could do some of them, but I'd need to use Jimmy's lab, and then what would I tell him? I wouldn't have time to use this place. He'd be around."

She sighed. Maybe she should just bake some cookies.

-o--o--o-

"Are you going to tell Cindy?"

They were the first words that either had said since their departure from the blue planet about half an hour ago. Libby swallowed hard after she said them and evaded Jimmy's gaze.

"I don't know. Should I?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Libby shifted her eyes toward him.

Jimmy sighed. "Is this going to have an impact on my relationship with her? I mean, is this going to turn into something serious that will jeopardize everything, or was this just some crazy hormonally-induced - thing - " He stopped suddenly and threw her a frightened glance. "If I don't tell her, will you?"

"I - I don't know," Libby said with a flush. "I mean - I don't know what that was either - but you have to remember that you've got Cindy and we - I mean you - oh, dang, this is all your fault!"

"What do you mean this is all my fault? You were leading me on, you didn't stop me, you didn't say anything!"

"I shouldn't have had to!"

"But you did! I'm a teen-aged guy, Libby, I can't - "

"Well, it's not my fault that hormones suck!"

With that Libby heaved a frustrated sigh, crossed her legs, and looked the other way, out into the stars. They were silent for a while again as each pursued his own thoughts, but it was Jimmy who finally broke the silence.

"You know, I can't believe this happened. I always thought I could control myself." He sighed and tried to meet Libby's eyes, but her head was still turned. "You know I'm not the kind of guy that tries to go after anything that could conceivably wear a dress."

"Oh, I know. After all, Carl could conceivably wear a dress."

"Come on, Libby, you know what I mean - "

"Betty and Cindy and April and that rodeo girl and - "

"Libby! You know what I mean."

Libby sighed and conceded. "Yes, I do."

Libby was finding that her eyes wanted to relieve itself of some tears, and she was afraid to speak for fear that they would. She knew that Jimmy was waiting for her to speak, to agree, to tell him that she understood, to let him apologize, but she was determined not to betray herself. Eventually, she forced Jimmy back into speech.

"I mean, Libby, I could be totally off the mark here, but I'm not sure these were just hormones. I mean, you look - you - are - shoot, I can't - " He made an on-the-fly decision to spit it out as quickly as possible. "It wasn't just the incredible way you looked that I wanted to do that back there. You're great, really you are, you know, inside too - everything about your actions and your words just made you so - "

"Jimmy, shut it," Libby said weakly, and then she finally turned her head. "It's just - you know how badly we just hurt Cindy?"

The tears were coming, and she couldn't stop them.

"But... I think we may have something," Jimmy said softly.

"Cool it," Libby snapped suddenly. "This is entirely wrong. You don't like me like that, and I don't like you like that. This is all happening way too fast. I mean, come on - look at you and Cindy. You've built yourselves up ever since elementary school - that's how long it took for you two to blossom. And here we are, not even two minutes - ! And it's taken you two so long. She worked so hard at trying to get you to like her, to notice her - "

"Well, damn, Libby, she sure had a funny way of doing that," Jimmy retorted. "She never - "

"Well, what do you think I was doing, Jimmy?" Libby asked pointedly, almost on the verge of hysteria. "I was going along with her. I was supporting her, encouraging her to do it! What do you think I thought of you? I didn't care - not most times, anyway, especially with her always gushing on about you all the time, even when you weren't there. If you still resent Cindy for doing those things to you, then you sure as hell should resent me too - don't use her past as an excuse. And then you and Cindy have been attracted to each other for years, whether you were fighting over stupid things or you were flirting foolishly during some damned newscast. This is the first time you've even looked at me like anything more than your girl's best friend that tags along places sometimes, or as your friend's girlfriend that took him from you for a while. You never think about anyone but yourself until that someone else is in mortal danger. Well, you're thinking about yourself now, and I don't think you realize how much danger Cindy is in because of what happened. We have hurt her, Jimmy, whether she finds out about this whole thing or not! Whatever you think we may 'have' - we cannot happen and I won't let us."

Jimmy blinked. "Actually, Libby, I quite appreciated you taking Sheen away from me for a while."

"Shut it," Libby replied sulkily. So much of her regretted what she had just said and done.

Libby closed her eyes and thought for a second. Then:

"But, you know, it would be a lot easier if I didn't think you were right."

-o--o--o-

"Hey, Jimmy, you in there?"

Sheen beat his fists on the clubhouse door. Cindy jumped at the noise, but she relaxed when she heard Sheen's voice and let him in.

"It's just me," Cindy called as she did so. "Jimmy's still gone. By my calculations he won't be back for at least another hour and a half or so." She swiveled around in the chair as Sheen walked in. "I was just working on some... stuff."

"Ooh, are you crashing Jimmy's lab without him knowing? Can I join?"

"No." Cindy glared. "At least not unless you can help me figure out something to do for him."

What was she doing? Asking for Sheen's help was definitely not her brightest idea - she didn't even have to wait for his suggestions to know that. She begrudged Sheen a little for hurting Libby - not to mention he was still one of the most annoying creatures on the planet - but he had calmed down some since elementary school, and she was usually able to get through a few hours with him without blowing up. Of course, those hours were usually easier - Jimmy was always there, and so she had never had to spend too much time with Sheen undiluted.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" she asked him.

"Oh, nothing," Sheen said. "I just finished up some business, you know, secret stuff, I thought I'd come over and see him. But obviously he's not around." He headed over to the fridge. "Have you thought about getting him a - all right, he's got some soda still in here!"

"Sheen, stay away from that, it's - "

But he had already swallowed it.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Jimmy's experiments had become much more serious throughout junior and high school. He had invented many frivolous things during elementary school: things that had made his simple, ten-year-old life even simpler - things spawned from a childish, though brilliant, imagination. Of course, they were really very clever and attested clearly to the fact that he was a genius; however, as he matured, he found himself attracted to some of the darker aspects of science and of the human mind's ability to comprehend the world. Although he was still a teen-aged, sometimes immature boy who still tinkered with inventions that had nothing to do with the abstract, academic world of science but had everything to do with how much pleasure he could extract out of life, he devoted an ever-increasing amount of time to serious research that involved an ever-increasing amount of dangerous and important chemicals.

He also stupidly kept some dangerous and important chemicals in his refrigerator alongside the Purple Flurp, albeit in test tubes, perhaps under the supposition that Sheen - and Carl, for that matter - would be supervised in his lab at all times and therefore restrained before doing anything too stupid. Obviously, his enormous brain was so filled with ideas regarding elusive unifying theories that it had no room for the knowledge that Carl still had a bag of Jimmy's hair, and Jimmy had not had the time or inclination to change his system of admittance to the lab.

Cindy didn't know exactly what Sheen had swallowed, and so she hesitated her warning as the chemical went down Sheen's throat. It didn't matter; even if she had known, she would have been too late. She had a sinking feeling, however, that the substance was not intended for human consumption in the least.

"Sheen!" she shrieked, and she ran over to him as a test tube slipped from Sheen's hand. It shattered as it hit the floor, but Sheen didn't seem to notice.

"What?" he asked, blinking, and Cindy caught him as he fell backward.

"Oh, damn," she said to herself. "What could he have just drunk - ?"

She slid him over to the nearest chair and let his sneakers drag across the floor. What should she do, call an ambulance? She was certain that Jimmy wouldn't be back for a while - over an hour. Could he wait that long?

"Why the hell does Jimmy not have a cell phone?" Cindy asked herself. She was getting hysterical, and her eyes were brimming over. "Science nerd, technology dork, and yet no damned cell phone - " Her mind was not clear enough to realize that there probably wouldn't have been any service on the moon, anyway.

She hurried over to the lab phone and dialed 911.

-o--o--o-

"Did you just say I was right?" Jimmy asked Libby. "Y'know, because I was thinking that _you_ were right - "

"Shoot, Jimmy," Libby said with a nervous laugh. "Let's just - leave it, okay? Leave things the way they are. This is way too fast and way too complicated. You've got to talk to Cindy before - "

"Talk to Cindy?" Jimmy said quickly, wide-eyed. "What? And tell her about - "

"Well, what do you think?" Libby interrupted. "If you're right - which - err - despite what I said, you're totally not - umm - then - you'd end up leaving her, and you can't do that without talking to her - and - about - well, you don't have to mention this occurrence specifically, but, uh, well - you'd have to - to tell her, she'd find out if you didn't - "

"But we don't have to worry about that, right, because I'm totally wrong here," Jimmy said with an anxious glance.

"Oh, yeah, no, I mean - this is nothing to worry about. We'll just - don't even talk about it. You're wrong."

"Wait, a minute, here, I'm wrong in saying that there's something more here between us, or am I wrong in reversing that and thinking that you're right - I mean, that your first statement about how this can't happen is right, before you reversed that to think that my first statement about there being something more was right - "

"I'm wrong about thinking that you were right. And you're right about agreeing with what I first said. I mean - shoot, forget it." Libby sighed and tossed her head, avoiding eye contact. "We'll just - keep things the way they are, we'll get home, you'll look at Cindy and be instantly reminded of how much you're in love with her, and I'll go home alone and pi - I mean, I'll never think about this again. Ever. I'll just... go think about Sheen."

"Sheen?" Jimmy asked. "I thought - "

"Of course, of course," Libby corrected herself. "Not Sheen." Truth be told, she spent a lot of time thinking about him still. Sometimes, anyway. But she was convinced she didn't really care for him anymore, and she had a disconcerting feeling that her days of dating Sheen would not be the most frequent memories that she would dwell upon the years - rather, days to come. "Umm... just - we can't do this." She found her resolve kicking back in - her loyalty to her friend. "We can't break Cindy's trust like this." Or her heart, she added silently.

"Wait, do you still think about Sheen?" Jimmy asked with another glance at her. There was something more than curiosity behind those big blue eyes of his.

Libby paused for a second before replying. "Maybe," she replied enigmatically. "There's... never been anyone else to think about before."

"You're kidding." Jimmy laughed a little. "No one else for you to think about? Come on, every guy in class has had his eye on you at least once," he said.

_Except you, till now_, Libby thought, biting her lip. Out loud, she said, "Do I strike you, Jim, as the kind of girl that would have her eye on every guy in the class?"

Jimmy was struck for a split second, but then he smiled. "No," he admitted. "When you go after something, you go after it hard on the inside, whether it's music or a person... I suspect you could even get some excellent grades if you had half a mind." He grinned at her and she glared, and then laughed. "No, you're really not that type of girl, are you."

Their gazes met for a moment.

Libby tapped her fingers together and broke eye contact by looking down.

"Y-you're not thinking of going anywhere else, right?" she asked tentatively.

Jimmy was still looking at her, but he gave a start and sharply threw his gaze to the front. "Of course not. We have to go home and talk to Cindy about this."

Libby stared.

"Umm, did you not hear what I said minutes ago, Jimmy? We can't - "

Jimmy flushed and felt suddenly embarrassed at what he so rashly had been about to decide. He had honestly been contemplating leaving Cindy for her best friend. It was sorely tempting at the moment, but a rational part of him knew that that would be a mistake. These things weren't supposed to be treated lightly, right? "Oh, well, I meant, um" - his blush deepened - "that I would have to be honest with her if I want our relationship to work."

Libby knew he was covering up, but she didn't say anything. She could only concentrate on the simultaneous relief and despair that had come at everything he had said and done for the past few minutes.

-o--o--o-

It had been three hours of a depressing hospital waiting room.

Cindy was stalking the floor, pacing back and forth, much to the annoyance of the others who were sitting there. Sheen's father had come immediately after she called him, which had been right after her call for an ambulance. Jimmy's parents had also come along with them to the hospital. Sheen had gone into the emergency room immediately, but she had no idea what kind of shape he was in or how he would turn out at the end of it all. Although this was a considerable worry, she also was worried about Jimmy. She had to contact him about Sheen, but she couldn't get in touch with him.

She had just finished calling the lab phone about ten times. Where was he? It didn't take that long to collect samples from the moon. And besides, it was the moon, for heaven's sake - how much closer to the Earth could you go? She knew the ride wasn't that long. He should have been back ages ago. Funny, wasn't it. Everybody was just going completely MIA today - first Libby, and now Jimmy, and, in a strange way, Sheen. In fact, she should probably try to call Libby as well. She didn't really know what kind of feelings the poor girl might still harbor for Sheen Estevez, the boy who had broken her heart.

Unfortunately, Libby didn't have a cell phone, either. Her parents, having bought her extremely expensive equipment to further her musical talents - including a beautiful baby grand piano - had decided that a cell phone for Libby would be an extraneous cost that was not required, at least not until Libby was older and off to college. Cindy suspected it had something to do with the frequent use - or, rather, abuse - Libby had made of her old cell phone so long ago.

She called Libby at home, though, on the off-chance that she was there. Mrs. Folfax answered and regretted to tell Cindy that Libby wasn't around. Cindy thanked her and hung up. She had contemplated leaving a message, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Besides, she wasn't sure how much Libby's mother knew about the complicated state of the Sheen and Libby Relationship (with a capital R) other than that they had been together once and then broke up. She didn't want to betray Libby's confidence.

_Where could she be?_

-o--o--o-

Half an hour later, Jimmy landed his rocket smoothly in his driveway and sailed it on into the garage. Libby followed him as he bustled around the lab for a minute; he sat at his computer for a second and checked e-mail; then, he turned to look at her.

She had a small smile on her face that instantly brought one to his. He knew that they both wanted this; he knew that they both didn't want it; but somehow, his mind became too caught up with the former to remember about the latter. He approached her slowly and gently, took her hands in his, and leaned his head forward. He didn't notice that their hands had broken apart and were busy with embraces and caresses - they were instinctive; and he was too preoccupied with their lips as they encountered each other for the second time, and with the exotic scent, a taste, even, that didn't seem to come from lotion or shampoo but from something distinctly, uniquely, and simply Libby.

They fell over each other - gracefully, somehow - onto Jimmy's couch and turned; one of Libby's hands slid up his back, underneath his T-shirt this time, and her other did the same up his front. His own hands found skin on her waist, between her jeans and slightly underneath her own shirt. Her touch and her scent and everything about her - the way she moved - was intoxicating, and he felt very close to discovering something for the first time - there was something completely different about Libby, about the way she drew him in. It was like there had never been anything but her in existence. His hands felt her smoothness and his lips moved down to her neck. Firm was her skin as he trailed his head down, enjoying the lightness and the infinite softness of it before she moved her head, pulling his lips away from her neck and back to hers. He shifted onto his knees and bent into her as they kissed, into the way she moved, the way she curved, and for a second he half-opened his eyes to see her, simply to confirm her incredible presence there on his couch, close, extraordinarily close; but his breathing nearly stopped as he saw something past her.

There was broken glass on the floor. He hadn't broken anything - if he had, he wouldn't have left it during his expedition on the moon.

He stopped his kiss abruptly and heaved himself off the couch - and, he realized with a pang of guilt, off Libby. She began to sit up, looking puzzled.

She swallowed hard, knowing that she had just done something else completely unforgivable. She felt guilt and suppressed the quiet electricity that was coursing through her, the happiness, the adoration of everything he was. Hormonal infatuation, she reprimanded herself. Still, she managed to ask him, "What is it?"

"There's broken glass here," Jimmy croaked in response as he examined the spot on the floor. He was circling it slowly, almost like a vulture; then his chest heaved once and he raced over to the fridge, pulling it open with three times the force than he needed to exert. The door burst open. "And there's a test tube of - oh, sh - "

Libby swung her legs off the couch and onto the floor as the lab phone rang.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

He gave a gentle knock on the door of her little studio. He could hear the piano playing - liltingly, sorrowfully - and her voice was raised softly in a hum. He swallowed at the lack of response and opened the door a crack.

"Libby?" Jimmy croaked. "Can I come in?"

Libby did not acknowledge his presence, but continued her rhythmical playing and humming and swaying. Her eyes were half closed and she looked so beautiful, sitting there, piercing his heart with her music, her heart nearly broken. She looked like a muse, a pure, sweet, virginal star.

He had never before understood those sentimental metaphors about stars and moons and girls. He was a scientist; he knew facts about these things - well, the stars and moons, anyway. They were lumps of gases and rocks and dust. They were beautiful; of course they were beautiful; but in the same way as was an atom, or an amoeba, or even a non-Newtonian solid. They were beautiful in their scientific elegance. They weren't romantic.

But he had supposed that their poetic appeal came from ignorance. After all, it was easy to compare a tiny pinprick of light in the night sky to a woman's eye. But when you thought about it, that pinprick of light was just a giant ball of gas flaming out into the void. The same thing, viewed two different ways. One was tiny, the other larger than a mind could fathom. Both gorgeous, but one was wrong, and one was right, and there was nothing really romantic when you looked up close.

Well, he finally understood - at least he had finally come to his own understanding. That star he knew for certain to be a mind-bogglingly huge ball of flames whirling around a mind-bogglingly huge distance away - it was Libby's. She was cosmic. It was as if she could rule the universe - he wanted her to rule the universe. To him, the galaxies were hers; the planets were hers to command, even light hers to play with. He had never seen this before Libby - never felt that everything about someone could be so powerfully magnetic that she could be the center of the cosmos. And he knew that if he got a chance at this romance that he so desperately wanted, that it would be something completely new, different - something lasting.

"I talked to Cindy," Jimmy said tentatively.

Libby swayed.

"We had a... a mutual break-up. We just weren't on the same page with each other, we agreed on that, and that we should... y'know, stop."

Libby opened her eyes some and glanced at Jimmy for a second, then half-closed them again. She was silent for a moment, but she finally spoke in a hoarse voice.

"I hope you didn't do it for me."

Jimmy shook his head. "No. No, it wasn't for you. Libby - I - I'm so sorry. But, you know, he's get better, he's going to live."

Libby sighed a little, refusing to turn her focus away from her playing. Her mind kept on cycling through that one recent memory, of the phone ringing.

"_Hey, Libby, could you get that for me? It's probably my mom calling about lunch, or something." Jimmy was frantically scrounging around in the refrigerator to find out what exactly was missing._

"_Sure, Jim." She sprang off the couch, still electrified and soaring, not really all that worried about the bit of broken glass on the floor. She picked up the phone. "Hello?"_

_There was silence for a moment._

"_Hello?" she said again._

"_Um... Libby?" Cindy's voice was trembling. "Wha - why - where the _hell_ have you been all day? And why are you in - "_

Libby played a few broken chords as Jimmy watched her.

"_Oh... hey, Cind," she said and gave a meaningful glance at Jimmy, who had given a start at hearing Cindy's name._

"_Right, Libs... explanation? Oh - never mind, here, I - "_

"_I'll talk to you about it later, girl," Libby said in what she hoped was a calm, collected, normal voice that didn't betray anything. "You probably want to talk to Jim, right?"_

_Libby could tell even over the phone that Cindy wasn't quite convinced, but Cindy pressed on anyway. "Yeah, yeah, but hold on, I should tell you first - Sheen drank some bizarre science stuff in Jimmy's lab and he's in the hospital."_

_Libby blinked. "Oh."_

"_Damn, Libby, I'm sorry, I mean, this has to suck for you, so... well, but - "_

_She was at a loss. What was she supposed to do? Gasp? Scream? Cry?_

"_Oh - um - well - "_

"_I'm so sorry, Libby, please come over to the hospital right away and we'll talk, okay? Can I get Jimmy on the phone too?"_

_Libby nodded, her mind too fogged to realize that Cindy couldn't see her bobbing head, and handed the phone to Jimmy, who she realized was staring at her looking puzzled and concerned._

According to every chick flick Libby had ever watched and every book she had ever read, this wasn't supposed to be happening. These kinds of hospital experiences were supposed to illuminate the heart, enlighten a person, tell you how much you cared for someone. But she had had no hit-by-a-truck revelation of love for Sheen, or even of any kind of affection. Not that she wasn't worried about him, of course - not that she didn't care. But she was really only numb and a bit confused.

_She and Jimmy arrived at the hospital together, and Libby rushed over to Cindy as soon as she saw her and swept her up in a hug._

"_You all right, Libs?" Cindy asked with a frown._

_Libby smiled gallantly. "Yeah."_

_Cindy looked at her and took a brief appraisal. "Umm... no, you're not." Cindy's glance played over Jimmy for a second, and she took her hand from Libby's shoulder and quickly embraced Jimmy. Libby looked down at her shoes and then sat down next to Mrs. Neutron._

_Cindy was talking to Jimmy with quiet fervor, but Libby didn't pay attention to what she was saying. Mrs. Neutron greeted her with a smile and a sympathetic look, and she acknowledged the greeting with a small, polite smile and a "Hi" that clearly was intended to communicate that she appreciated the friendly greeting and the sentiment behind her eyes, but that she was in no mood for conversation._

_After a second, Jimmy gave Cindy a quick peck on the lips and Libby suddenly averted her gaze. Jimmy was half-smiling at her shyly. Cindy, however, had turned away from him and didn't notice; her eyes were glued to Libby._

"_Spill," Cindy said shortly. "You're clearly upset."_

"_Cind, leave me alone for a bit, will you?" Libby groaned. "I just gotta process this - "_

"_Process it my ass," Cindy said. "I'm only doing for you what you'd do for me. I can't lie to you. I'm kind of pissed that you went off talking to Neutron when you told me you wouldn't. But you know, that doesn't really matter right now, and I'm trying as hard as I can to be supportive." So Jimmy had told her about the trip, but he had obviously omitted some details. "I mean, come on, Libs, be honest with yourself. Sheen's lying in there as though dead and you're totally still in love with him. Really."_

_Libby's eyes got wide. "No," she said. "No, absolutely not - "_

"_Then what are you upset about?"_

_Libby thought for a moment. She had always had an uncanny ability to read Cindy's mind, but obviously Cindy lacked a little bit of the mystique and intuition that it took to do the same to others. It wasn't really that she loved Sheen - she didn't. Or did she? It was really more that she didn't - or that she didn't know. Why was she so confused? Sheen could be in that emergency room dying, for all she knew, and she couldn't even tell if she loved him or not. Yes, she had always thought about him, even after the break-up. But then..._

_It was Jimmy. It was the fact that he loved Cindy - she knew he did, even though he hadn't admitted to it on the rocket ride home. The fact that she had kissed him - heck, that she had lusted after him - after her best friend's boyfriend. And now Jimmy - Jimmy, of all people, was occupying her thoughts when she should have been duly concentrating on the fact that her ex was now quite possibly dying. She was wasting love - oh, heck, no, not love, just - whatever - on Jimmy when she should, as in every proper movie plot, be applying it to Sheen and grovelling at his bedside about how she couldn't afford to lose him._

Jimmy kept on watching Libby, her skillful hands as they danced slowly around the keyboard. The notes were calling to him, evoking in him this sense of longing - he could feel her there, in her music. He suddenly realized how inseparable they were, Libby and her music, like him and science, and something in him that she had stirred shifted even more deeply. So what if she was talented like that and he wasn't? She wasn't gifted at science, either, and he could still see Libby for all the beauty of her, even the beauty he couldn't quite understand.

But she was playing for Sheen. He knew that - he knew the longing, the sorrow of the music. So he spoke to her.

"Libby, you really love Sheen, don't you."

Something in Libby caved at that moment. Her shoulders collapsed, and she lifted her fingers off the keys, supporting her face in her hands instead. The tears finally came; oh, if she only knew that she did!

Jimmy approached her slowly. He obviously had gotten the wrong idea - she had given him the wrong idea, that she loved Sheen, on purpose. She wanted him to believe it, and then he could go back to Cindy, or Betty, or someone else he loved.

Just not her. She was too confused, too ordinary for this genius - and too lost. She didn't love him, she only loved the way he had looked at her, or touched her - not him, not his personality, just - wait, never mind, that wasn't it. It was just that they would only hurt Cindy if they were together...

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and she lifted her face out of her hands. It was tear-streaked; she was sobbing. His face was looking into hers, and she could detect a beautiful kindness behind his eyes. Perhaps there was something else there, too, and as though she were in a trance, she stood and Jimmy slowly embraced her, slipped her into his arms - it was amazing how well she fit there - and she continued to sob. For once she felt safe and warm and enveloped in care as she stood there, as he was so close to her, and yet despite this - or perhaps because of it - she couldn't stop crying. She smelled the pears and bananas and the old burned candles and for the first time, she felt no burning, sensual longing, no desire to touch him for the time being - only safety, gratitude, love.

"Y'know, Libby," he whispered in her ear, "this is probably a terrible time to say this, especially when there's this whole thing with Sheen, and you're so conflicted and everything" - how did he know that? - "and I know this whole thing's been really fast and random and crazy, but I have to tell you - Libby, I didn't break up with Cindy for you, but I'm still willing to take a chance on you."

Libby swallowed and felt the tears burn. She pulled away from him a little and looked in his blue, blue eyes. They were so close to her.

"So... um..." Jimmy smiled nervously. "What about you?"

Another tear dripped down from Libby's eye. She didn't know if she was right about this; the more she thought about it, the more she thought she was wrong. But she couldn't deny the fact that those words that Jimmy had just spoken had been the most beautiful words she ever remembered hearing, and she couldn't deny -

Suddenly she laughed. Oh, the denial she was in. And she used to get so huffy with Cindy about her denial of love for Jimmy. No wonder Cindy had tried to be tough on her. And here she was, debating over whether or not she should enter into what could be the greatest adventure of her life, with experiences beyond her wildest dreams...

Jimmy looked terrified of her laughter.

"W - what does that mean?" he asked with wide eyes.

Laughing harder, Libby leaned up and in and kissed his forehead.

"It means I'm willing to take a chance on you too, as long as you promise to avoid the Abba and not break into song."

Jimmy looked back at her, still wide-eyed, confused, until what she had said finally sunk in. His face broke into a smile.

"Dang, I love you, Libby," he said.

Libby just smiled and kissed him.

END


End file.
